Havoc on the Half-Pipe
Havoc on the Half-Pipe is the eighth episode of Season 1, also known as Dimension 20: Fantasy High Dwarven skateboarders fight for their turf. Adaine spins a web. Fig reunites with her past. Plot Riz, who has hidden himself behind some pallets, is first to act and tries to surprise Torek with a shot from his gun. He misses and calls out the group in Elvish that he believes she is controlling Crush, the golum. Adaine seems skeptical, reminding them that they should be fighting for gold, not for blood. Kristen agrees, sharing with them that all the owls just flew off, something is going on and Crush may not be their priority. Kristen runs towards Riz, also taking cover behind the pallets and blessing Adaine, Fabian and Gorgug. Gorgug notices a vulture up on the roofing, which, unlike the owls, seems interested not in what is transpiring currently, but what will happen after the fight. Confused by the vulture, Gorgug begins to rage, running forward and successfully hitting a male dwarf with a hand-axe. Adaine begins to follow Kristen, casting firebolt as she goes, setting the wooden half-pipe alight. She is surprised at how quickly the fire takes to the structure, and notices that the dwarves are instantly fearful of it until they realise it was caused by her spell and not some other force. Fabian, astride the Hangman, calls out to the others to leave the golum to him, then rides forward through its legs and tries to stab it from below. However his rapier simply scrapes along its skin, unable to penetrate the stone. It takes a wobbling swing at the motorcycle in retaliation, only just htting it and knocking Fabian off in the process. Fabian manages to flip gracefully off the bike and lands near the vulture on the copper silo. The dwarves take off, grinding along rails to move off the half-pipe. Two make attacks at Gorgug but only one hits, Riz is able to avoid an attack but Fabian is hit. Fig casts suggestion on Crush, instructing it to throw the dwarves off the cliff. She sees no recognition in its eyes and is not sure whether or not the spell was successful. She winks at Kristen, giving her bardic inspiration and hides behind a skinny tree. Torek, atop the half-pipe, calls out a prayer, blessing her fellow dwarves. Riz tries to get use insightful fighting on a nearby dwarf, but is unable to read his face under his beard. Crush takes slow steps towards the party and makes a swing and a miss at Gorgug. Kristen runs out from cover, blessing the remaining party members. Trying to figure out what is going on with the owls, she suddenly realises that it is probable that the last thing Zayn did while alive was set his rat free, even while he was fighting for his life, and a town full of cats and owls is perfect to catch a rat. She doesn't believe that the cats and owls aren't being produced by the current environment, but instead are being controlled by something more sinister - the mithral factory relates to a clue to do with the mystery and the animals are not part of that, in fact, they may be here to stop them. Armed with this knowledge she advises the others to keep an eye out for the rat. Gorgug makes two failed attacks but Adaine is able to get closer to Torek, deftly moving through the rough terrain and casts Tasha's Hideous Laughter on the dwarf who falls over in hysterics. Fabian, in a feat of athletic prowess, surfs the Hangman onto the half-pipe and jumps up to the top level where Torek is and stabs the laughing dwarf with his rapier. The Hangman continues to ride the burning half-pipe, unaffected. Two dwarves skate up and make attacks on Fabian, one missing and one succeeding and two more make successful attacks on Gorgug and Riz. Fig realises that Crush is mindless, therefore it cannot be compelled or charmed, and is also being animated by the number of dwarven runes that cover it. She runs up to cast sleep on the dwarves surrounding Fabian, remembering what his father had told them about how Fabian, with his elvish heritage, is immune. One of the dwarves passes out, falling off the top level and hitting Adaine on the way down. An apologetic Fig winks at the elf, granting her bardic inspiration. Riz runs to the base of the ladder and takes a shot at Torek that misses, almost hitting Fabian instead. Behind him, Crush rounds on Gorgug and hits, pushing him into the edge of a ravine filled with a green acid. Kristen tries to beckon to the vulture but it immediately flies away so instead she begins to dash up the ladder towards Fabian. Riz realises that Crush is incredibly top-heavy, encumbered by the half-pipe on its back. Gorgug attempts to climb onto its back and it takes the opportunity to attack, knocking him back down to the ground. Adaine, realising that Crush can only be damaged by magical weapons or spells and does not appear to be connected to the magic of the dwarves, casts firebolt at the creature, melting some of the tar on its shoulder. Fabian grabs Torek and dangles her over the edge of the catwalk, threatening to drop her if she doesn't call off the golum. When she refuses he throws her the forty feet to the ground, but when he attempts to climb down gracefully after her, falls as well, landing nearby. Three dwarves each successfully attack Riz and Adaine. Fig realises that when the fire first started and Torek looked scared for a second, she looked at one of the manholes to below, as though something was going to come through it. She casts disguise self, taking the guise of Johnny Spells and tries to intimidate the dwarves, but Torek is just enraged by his presence, calling to her comrades to stop him from getting below ground. The young dwarf calls a legion of dwarven spirits in preparation for battle, which immediately attack the nearby Riz. Riz calls out to the dwarves, trying to convince them that they are on the same side by promising to do a sick trick as proof. He scrambles up a nearby ladder, shoots his gun at the side of the factory, which propels the ladder backwards through the air and allowing him to land squarely on the halfpipe on Crush's back. The dwarves are amazed. On landing Riz realises that while the golum is incredibly strong, the lightest feather could knock it over. In retaliation to the new creature on its back, Crush grabs the ladder and tries to hit Riz, who nimbly manages to escape any blows. Kristen detects a strong evil presence down the manhole and yells out in broken, old fashioned elvish to Adaine, which she cannot comprehend. Realising that the ladder has now been taken by Riz, she tries to make her way down from the platform but fails, falling into the flaming halfpipe, barely avoiding catching on fire. With help from Adaine's divinatory magic, Gorgug jumps up and hangs onto the back of the half-pipe, throwing Crush further off balance and forcing him to step backwards towards the acid, a success hindered only by the fact that the half-orc finds himself hanging perilously over the corrosive liquid. Adaine realises that Kristen was trying to get her to use mage hand to pull at the half-pipe, but as mage hand is not strong enough she taps into her arcane knowledge to use the web spell to conjure two magical ropes that entrap and pull at the half-pipe, adding to Gorgug's efforts to drag the creature even more off balance. Fabian, seeing this happening, drives the Hangman over, taking an attack from Torek as he does, attaches the web ropes to the back of the bike and begins to drive away from the golum. Despite the best efforts of Riz, Gorgug, Adaine and Fabian, Crush stays steady. As the dwarves and spirits begin to engage in combat with Fabian and Adaine, Fig hears a voice from down the manhole, which is now emanating a glowing red light, calling out to her. Believing it to be her father, she run towards it, healing Riz as she goes. She lowers herself in and, seeing a drumkit below, drops into the hole. Taking damage from the fall she finds herself in an old section of the mine full of rubble and refinery equipment. Embedded in the wall behind the glowing red drum kit is a giant ruby. Without hesitation she sits down and begins to play. Back above, Riz runs up to the top of the opposite side of the half-pipe and tries to ride his briefcase like a skateboard. The briefcase slips out from underneath him as he flies up, but he is able to stop himself from falling by grabbing onto Gorgug who is still hanging precariously himself. Crush attacks Gorgug but he is able to keep holding on. Surrounded by flames Kristen tries to commune with the devil. When she sees his face she asks him why bad things happen to good people, to which he answers that they do it to themselves and vanishes, much to her displeasure. Enraged, she runs from the flames and heals Adaine and Gorgug, her magic no longer emitting a corn scent as it once did. Grogug grabs Riz and together they climb to the top of the half-pipe. Adaine casts burning hands at the group of attacking dwarves and jumps onto the back of the Hangman, who Fabian scolds for objectifying but admits she is quite cute. Fabian revs the engine, using the webs to pull at the halfpipe, as at the same time, Gorgug, grabbing Riz under his arm for extra weight, make an almighty jump. With them all working together, Crush begins to fall into the acid, defeated. Gorgug, with Riz in his arms, expertly jumps off the defeated creature, avoiding any damage and landing on the upper platform. The sound of Fig's playing begins to rise up from the manhole as the glowing becomes brighter. Torek and the dwarves, now terrified and their golum defeated, scream that their fathers released something horrible. The sound of a guitar shred sounds out and bursting from the manhole flies a huge ancient winged demon, Fig astride his back. The dwarves retreat in fear. Fig descends from the demon's shoulder and he introduces himself as her biological father, Gorthalax the Insatiable. When Fig asks to call him dad, he begins to cry tears of flame and apologises for not being there for her as he was trapped. Riz is concerned that Johnny was sacrificing the teenage girls to him and while the demon admits he has had people sacrificed to him, none of them were teenagers and he had not asked for anyone specifically to do it. Riz asks him about Johnny Spells and his lack of fucking and Gorthalax begins to laugh. Johnny, who he'd always thought was a "boner", was his warlock and as a joke he had made him be celibate. The kids begin to ask questions but he quells them, complimenting them on their fighting and offering to take them for ice-cream and answer all their questions. At Adaine's request he uses his magic to find Zayn's rat and the group leaves for Basrar's. Featured Characters The Bad Kids * Adaine Abernant * Fabian Seacaster * Fig Faeth * Gorgug Thistlespring * Kristen Applebees * Riz Gukgak New * Gorthalax the Insatiable Returning * Torek Railgrinder * Crush * The Hangman * Zayn's Rat Mentioned * William Seacaster * Zayn Darkshadow * Johnny Spells Category:Fantasy High